Truth
by Karevsanatomy
Summary: There are three sides to every story. Her side, his side, and the truth...Sequel to Choices
1. Not Daddy Material

Truth

Sequel to Choices

Chapter One

Not Daddy Material

Fatherhood was a catagory not all men belonged in. There were some that were born with a daddy gene. They were destined to be great fathers. Then there were men like himself, men who had no desire to be in that catagory. Men who shouldn't be in that catagory. Fatherhood was not something Mark Sloan had wanted. It had been thrust upon him. One day he had been Mark Sloan, plastic surgeon playboy; the next day he had been Mark Sloan, father of one. As luck would have it, the kid was nine and sick. Go figure. Not only did not have nine months to get use to the idea, he had to deal with leukemia and bone marrow transplants.

Pushing the Italian leather chair away from the streamline black desk that dominated his office, Mark let out a ragged sigh. His body ached in places he didn't know could ache. The wonderful after effects of having his bones sucked of marrow. He had undergone the painful procedure for one reason, and one reason only. So Addison wouldn't have to face the loss of a child. Heartless as it sounded, he had no desire to play daddy. He didn't wish the kid any ill will, he just wasn't interested. Let Karev continue to be her daddy. Addison had about popped a gasket when he had suggested that. She had told him, in rather maternal tone, that Alex wasn't Kylie's father, he was. Right. Genetically, he was Kylie's father. The girl thought of Alex Karev as her daddy though. There was really no point in changing that now.

"Dr. Sloane?"

Mark looked up to find Izzie standing in the doorway of his office. Another person who had had their life screwed up by Addison and her kid. Izzie had actually borne Alex's child, then raised the girl on her own for nine years. Until Alex had moved back. In the begining, Alex had been interested in saving Kylie. True, Karev had been thrilled to learn he had procreated a child with a woman he actually loved, and not one he had simply screwed to scratch an itch. "Yes, Dr. Stevens?" It had best be important. He wasn't in the mood for trivial matters.

"I wanted to see how Kylie was. Is she getting better?" Izzie stares at him, questions in her large dark eyes. There had been a time when he had been interested. More than interested. Dr. Stevens was a beautiful woman. Long blond hair, large chocolate colored eyes, skin that seemed to glow, and legs that went on for miles. No suprize that she had once been an underwear model. The woman oozed sexiness. Looking at her, one would never know she had borne a child and was, if rumor was to believed, pregnant again. He had to hand it to Karev. The man worked fast.

"As far as I know," he answers. The ache was getting worse. Reaching for the bottle of tylenol that sat on the corner of his desk, he twisted the cap off, then shook a couple pills into his palm. Tossing them into his mouth, he swallowed. A trick he had learned as a kid. It use to annoy the crap out of his mother. Which just encouraged him to do it more.

"You haven't checked on her?" Izzie frowned, disapproval gleaming in her eyes. Of course she would disagree. If he was playing daddy to Addison's kid, Alex wouldn't have to. He couldn't blame Izzie there. Alex was biologically the father of her daughter. Naturally, she wanted him focusing on their child. Not Addison's.

"No. Look, Stevens, I didn't ask to be a father. I don't want to be a father. I did my job. I gave the kid what she needed to get better." Mark knew how callus he sounded. That couldn't be helped. There were just some men who were not meant to be father's and he was one of those men. "Besides, I'm not cut out to be a father. Kid's better off without me."

Izzie shakes her head. "How do you know you're not cut out to be a father? Have you ever tried?"

Had she not been listening? He didn't _want _to try. He was happy with the way his life was. Kid free. "No. And I don't intend to."

"You're an ass. You know that, right?" She gives him a disgusted look before turning to leave, not waiting for him to answer her question.

Yeah. He knew he was an ass. He had pretty much been one his whole life. Which was why he didn't belong in the Fatherhood catagory. No point in screwing a kid up with his indiffrence.


	2. Tiny Heart

Chapter Two

Tiny Heart

A small part of her had held onto the fact that somewhere, under that cold fascade, Mark had a heart. It was small and selfish, buried deep within, but there none the less. Every once in a while, he dusted it off and did something good. When he had agreed to the bone marrow transplatn, Addison had hoped it meant he had changed his mind where Kylie was concerned. There had been some harsh things said the day he learned he was a father. Such as he had no use for a kid. Even after that, she had held onto the fact that Mark had a heart, albiet a tiny one. She had had this unrealistic image of Mark taking one look at their daughter and falling love, proclaiming his need to be a father. Who knew she was such an idealist? She had thought that side of her was dead and buried. She supposed she had revived her idealistic side for Kylie's sake. Learning that Alex Karev wasn't her father would be painful. Thus the idealistic dream of Mark suddenly wanting to be father. Somehow she had convinced herself that if she replaced one father with another the pain wouldn't be so intense. Who was she kidding? There was no way to protect Kylie from the pain.

Pushing her red hair off her face, Addison fights the urge to break down and cry. Alex hadn't said he wouldn't be Kylie's father anymore. Quite the opposite. He had said as long Kylie wanted him to be her father, he would be her father. Easy enough to say when Izzie wasn't speaking to him. Once that relationship was repaired, he would forget all about Kylie. "You've really done it this time Addison," she murmurs. A tear trickles down her cheek. If she had just thought about it, back when she first discovered she was pregnant, she would have realized there was no way for Alex to be the father. She had just wanted so badly for the baby to belong to anyone but Mark. After the abortion in New York, she had promised herself never again. Never again would she have to face that sort of decision because of Mark Sloan. Maybe that was why she convinced herself the baby belonged to Alex.

In the hospital bed a few feet away, Kylie stirs. She would be going home soon. Where ever home was. Addison had no clue what she was going to do. The townhouse in Manhattan was waiting on them. All they had to do was get on a plane and go. Mark wanted nothing to do with the beautiful little girl they had created. He wouldn't care if she took Kylie to the outbacks of Australia to live. Just so long as he didn't have to play Daddy. "Mommy?" Kylie mumbles, opening one of her greyish blue eyes. A color that could only belong to Mark Sloan. Selfish pig. How he could want nothing to do with their daughter was out of her realm of comprehension.

Addison eases her body from the not so comfortable chair that graced the corner of the hospital room, stretching once she was on her feet. "I'm still here, sweetie." She moves close to the bed, smoothing Kylie's hair back. She presses a kiss against the pale forehead. The soft skin was cool. Which was a relief after last night's low grade tempature. "Are you thirsty?"

Kylie nods, shifting into a sitting position. She takes the plastic cup her mother offers her, sipping the cool liquid. "Where's daddy?"

Addison's first instinct was to say the stupid bastard was running from his responsibilities. Which wasn't entirely true. Mark wasn't running. He had no reason to. He had made his position very clear. Besides, Kylie was referring to Alex. "I think he said he would come visit later today." Alex had said he would come, sit with her for a while. DNA wasn't going to change the way he felt about her. Eventually, though, they would have to tell her.

"Oh. Okay." Kylie sets the glass on the stand next to the bed. She licks her lips, then plucks at the hem of the blanket. "He isn't going to bring that girl with him, is he?"

That girl. Alexa Stevens. Alex's real daughter. No love lost between Kylie and her. They had hated each other on the spot. Kylie seeing Lexie as a threat to her Daddy's Little Girl position, and Lexie seeing Kylie as the reason her father wasn't there. How right they both were, in a childish sort of way. "No. Lexie isn't coming with him." Addison grunts a bit as she drags the chair closer to the bed. It was deceptive looking, weighing a lot more than first glance implied. "He's coming alone."

"Good. Cause he's my daddy. Not her's." Kylie wiggles her body around a bit. A sure sign she needed to go to the bathroom. She scoots the edge of the bed, taking ahold of her IV pole. Her body slides to the floor. "This floor is cold!" Her eyes widen when her bare feet hit the cold tile.

Addison laughs. "Yes. I imagine it is." Using her foot, she moves a pair of plush Garfield slippers over. Smiling as Kylie slides her feet into them. "That better?" Kylie nods, smiling. God that smile was so like Mark's. Again, she wondered how he could be so heartless. How he could not want to be a part of her life. "I think I'm going to run get some coffee, would you like anything?"

"Um...a balloon?" Kylie teases from the bathroom. There is some bumping and rustling around, then a bit of muttering.

Addison laughs. "A balloon?" A quick glance around the room showed a starkness that was a bit depressing. Perhaps a balloon would be cheery. "I think I can manage that. Any color prefrence?"

"No. Just a balloon. Maybe an animal, too?" She was playing around. Seeing how much she could swindle her mother for. 'Right now, she could ask for the Hope Diamond and I would get it for her,' Addison muses as she gathers her purse. When Alex came, she would make a run to the hotel. Take a shower and change her clothes. If she had been smart, she would have brought an overnight bag.

"I'm going. I'll be right back," she calls. Kylie's answer is muffled and there is some shuffling around. She smiles as she closes the door to the room. Her baby was getting better. The smile didn't last long. Mark was standing next to the nurses station. Flirting some pretty little red-head with big blue eyes and even bigger breasts, which was where his focus was. A mere twenty feet from his daughter's room, acting as though she didn't exist. The man really did have a tiny heart.


	3. Says Who?

Chapter Three

Say's Who?

It was an odd friendship. One that had gone through more trials than most. In all honesty, it was a bit soap opera-ish nature. There weren't many people who could say they had stayed friends with the person who had broken up their first marriage. Derek liked to think of that incident as Mark doing him a favor. Not that he had seen it that way at the time. No, when it had first come to light that his best friend had slept with his wife, Derek had been livid. So livid he had packed up in the middle of the night, leaving New York behind for Seattle. Seattle had been his saving grace. Seattle where was were he had met Meredith Grey. If not for that affair, he might have gone on in a loveless marriage. Never knowing the intensity of true love, or the joys of fatherhood. It was hard to hate a person who had triggered a chain of events leading up to bliss. It was also hard to hate someone he had known since he was five.

With over forty years of friendship under his belt, Derek liked to think he knew Mark. In knowing him, he could sense when things were not as they should be. Such as now, to a casual viewer, Mark Sloan looked like a handsome man enjoying a beer on a crisp September afternoon. Lounged out on one of the chaise lounges Meredith had on the back deck, his hair sticking in several directions, a wrinkled shirt stretched across his muslces, and jeans that had seen better days. That was the picture Mark presented. The slight tick in his left cheek and the wrinkle that kept appearing, then disappearing between his brows told Derek something was on his mind. Something important. "So," Derek begins, "I'm going to release Kylie tomorrow. Figure two weeks in the hospital is enough to drive any kid up the wall. She's looking better though. Both her white and red blood cell counts have improved dramatically."

Mark nods, taking another sip of his beer. He puckers his mouth for a moment, then raises the bottle back to his lips, finishing the yeasty alcohol off. "Have you seen some of the new interns? Got this one named Candy. Seems real interested in Plastics, if you know what I mean?" He shoots Derek a cocky grin before raising his upper body from the floral cushion. With one swift toss he throws the empty bottle into the green trashcan on the lower deck. "What does this bring my score too?"

"That depends? We talking bottles or interns?" Derek asks drily. Miranda Bailey had taken the position of Chief when he had stepped down. People had questioned his doing so. Wanted to know what possessed a man with his abilities to step down from such a prestigous position. The answer was simple. Eva Caroline Shepherd had been born and he wasn't going to miss a moment of her life that he didn't have to.

"Eh. Bottles for now. Still working on the intern." Mark wiggles his brows before reaching for another bottle of beer. There was a small kiddie pool between the two of them filled to the brim with ice, bottles of beer wedged in. Rather inventive of Derek. Using his daughter's splash pool for a cooler.

"I want to say it's twenty," Derek chuckles, twisting the cap off his second bottle. Mark had him beat by three. The man had been downing them all afternoon. Another sign that something was on his mind. "You want to talk about it?"

"About what? The fact that you can't count worth shit? Cause I was almost certain my score was twenty the last time." Mark lays his head back, closing his eyes. His face wasn't quite at peace.

"The last one didn't count. You missed the can. Which reminds me, you'll have to find that bottle before Meredith does. You know how she feels about picking up after us." Derek leans forward enough to toss his bottle over the railing and into the can. The sound of glass hitting glass tinkles through the air. "I was talking about whatever it is that is bothering. Namely Kylie, I assume."

"You assume too much, Derek. For Kylie to bother me, I would have to care." Mark answers flippantly, not opening his eyes.

Derek stares at his friend for a moment, trying to figure out how much of that was truth and how much of it was Mark trying to convince himself. "Are you saying you don't care? Because if you are, I would have to call you a liar. Not sure I like calling a friend a liar to his face."

"Better get ready to like it. I don't care, Derek. Which sounds completely heartless, I know." He sighs, setting his bottle of beer on the deck. There was less bravado this time. As though he was merely saying what was expected of man like him.

"Hm. For a man who doesn't care you were quick to undergo that transplant. Seems to me if you didn't care, you would have just let the girl die." Derek twists his head around when he hears the french doors behind them open. Meredith waddles out. She would kill him if ever told her that she waddled. "Hey sweetie."

"Hey." She leans over the top of the lounge, cupping his chin in her hands she tilts his head back, pressing a kiss to his lips. When she raises up, she shoots Mark a smile. It was her Mark smile. It use to bother him that she had a smile just for Mark, until he noticed she had a smile just for everyone. The everyones that were important in her life anyways. "Mark."

"Meredith. Sure you don't want to have a c-section? I can do a tummy tuck as soon as the kid's out." Mark teases, yelling when she grabs a handful of ice and stuffs it down the back of his shirt. "Damn. That was cold. Was only trying to be a good friend."

"Try harder. Better yet, try being a good father," Meredith drops onto the end of Derek's chaise, rubbing her extended belly. The baby was going to be large. Derek worried about the complications that could imply.

"I'm not Daddy material Mer." Mark sighs, looking to Derek. It was clear what he wanted. He wanted Derek to back him on this. He was out of luck this time. Derek had a feeling that if Mark really wanted to, he could be a good father.

"Says who? You're great with Eva. And, from what I hear, you're one helluva soccer coach. Izzie and Callie both brag on you." Meredith crosses her arms, resting them on the top of her stomach. "Seems to me that anyone who can handle twenty nine and ten year olds, as well as crabby toddler would make a great father. So, you had better come up with something other than the whole 'I'm not Daddy material' crap. Because, I for one, think you would make a wonderful father."

Mark chuckles. "You also think Derek's McDreamy." He yelps again as ice hits him square in the face.


End file.
